Ok, I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer to.

Is there a way to SAFELY detune an engine (OBDI) w/o hurting or adversely effecting the engine itself ? Rev limiters ? Trans shifting points ?

The reason I ask is because my cousin has a pretty stout 383 in his T/A and his son wants to take it to the homecoming dance this year for school. Well, he asked me how to de-tune it to make it a little more "user friendly" for a 18 year old to drive. Personally, I have no clue and I told him I would post on here and ask around. Any input or thoughts would be appreciated.

P.S. I already told him that car is not what I would want my 18 year old to drive but he wanted me to ask anyway.

Thanks,

 

Does he have a tuner for it?

You can set many things like rev limiters and speed limiters with a tuner, but without one nothing short of a mechanical throttle stop will really work.

 

Ya can't really de-tune a car to run sluggish unless you back off the timing to some really crazy low point. You could set the speed limiter and RPM limiters low, but how low ?? EG: is 2500 RPM/70 MPH safe on a back road ?? You can get into trouble with a 65 HP Volkswagen if you try hard.. It's a matter of the drivers maturity and experience with handling a pot load of torque, plus and who is in the car with them. I would forget the de-tune, ya either trust him or not.

 

Easiest thing would be to set it to short shift and set the speed limiter slightly above the highest speed limit he needs to drive.

Also retune the speedometer so it reads high.

 

set the speed to 75mph, and rev limit to 3900rpm, then if he floors it, the highest it will rev is 3900rpm, max power wont be made yet which effectively makes it sluggish, and wont shift until he lets off the throttle (I think).. Perfect!

 

Just pull up the floor mat under the gas pedal

Hal